Michael Douglas, who has been playing self-destructive middle-aged anti-heroes with great skill since “Fatal Attraction” nearly a quarter-century ago, is superb as an auto salesman who sinks deeper and deeper into disgrace in “Solitary Man,” Douglas’ juiciest vehicle since “Wonder Boys.”
Glimpsed briefly at a life-changing doctor’s visit six years earlier, Ben Kalmen has gone from advertising himself on TV as “New York’s honest car dealer” to being a serially promiscuous 59-year-old convicted felon who can’t keep from sabotaging himself in every way imaginable.
Thanks to a well-connected girlfriend (Mary-Louise Parker), he’s actually on the verge of a big comeback in the business.
But can the talking-talking Ben keep his hands off her seductive daughter (Imogen Poots), whom he’s reluctantly agreed to accompany for an interview with the dean at his old college in Boston?
Perhaps no more than Ben can keep himself from indulging in a quickie with his daughter’s friend.
But even that diversion doesn’t stop the lothario from offering unsolicited romantic advice to Daniel Cheston (the ubiquitous Jesse Eisenberg), a student he meets on the trip.
Eventually Ben’s financial situation becomes so desperate that the former Forbes cover boy is reduced to working at a deli run by an old college buddy (Danny DeVito).
Screenwriter Brian Koppelman has provided the excellent cast — including Susan Sarandon as Ben’s sympathetic but realistic ex-wife, and an unbilled Olivia Thirlby who delivers a great zinger as Cheston’s girlfriend — with the sort of smart, character-driven dialogue that’s in short supply in contemporary films.
The film is co-directed without much in the way of visual flourishes by Koppelman and David Levien, his longtime writing partner. Levien co-helmed the underrated “Knockaround Guys” and wrote “Ocean’s Thirteen” for Steven Soderbergh, who serves as a producer here.
With a film as well written (at least up to an overly pat ending) and acted as “Solitary Man,” that’s a relatively small complaint.